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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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975.5
3 1833 06588 9419
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7
P39S
V.2A
Some Prominent Virginia Families
- IN FOUR VOLUMES
VOLUME II
Some Prominent Virginia Families
Gc 975.5 P392 V.2
1.2
By Louise Herquet du Bellet
Granddaughter of Henry W. Moncure, of Richmond, Virginia, and Great-Granddaughter of Col. John Ambler, of Jamestown, Virginia
Copyright, 1907 BY LOUISE PECQUET DU BELLET
J. P. BELL COMPANY (INC.), PUBLISHERS,
Lynchburg, Virginia.
.
CONTENTS
1128219
Volume II
CHAPTER PAGE
I. History of the Ambler Family. 1
II. Letters of Mrs. Edward Carrington and Extracts from a Sermon by Rev. John Buchanan 18
III. Cary Family . 39
IV. Cary Family Genealogy 55
V. Randolph Family
129
VI. Fairfax Family 155
VII. Carter Family 192
VIII. Lee Family . 249
IX. Willis Family
267
X. Nicholas Family
310
XI. A Narrative of My Life for My Family (Francis T. Brooke) 343
XII. Barbour, Green, Fleming, Coleman, and Henry Families 393
XIII. Moncure Family 426
XIV. Marshall Family 458
XV. Harrison Family. 485
XVI.
Fitzhugh Family.
551
XVII. Mason Family 581
XVIII. Lewis Family
620
XIX. Armistead Family.
651
XX. Johnston, Moore, Steptoe, Callaway, and Thornton Families 686
XXI. Taliaferro Family 731
XXII. Barton Family 746
XXIII. Fisher History 752
ILLUSTRATIONS
Volume 11
PAGE
Coat-of-Arms of Amblers of England. X
John Jaquelin Ambler. 2
Philip Saint George Ambler 12
Dr. James D. Moncure. 14
St. John's Church, Richmond, Va. 22
Right. Rev. Richard Channing Moore, D. D.
32
Rev. John Buchanan, D. D ..
33
Cary Coat-of-Arms of England
38
Col. Archibald Cary.
70
Richard Channing Moore Page, M. D.
77
Monticello 81
Dr. Edward H. Cary, of Dallas, Texas. 118
Randolph Coat-of-Arms 129
Gov. Thomas Nelson. 148
John Randolph of "Roanoke"
160
Fairfax Coat-of-Arms
165
Carter Coat-of-Arms
192
Robert ("King") Carter
198
Judith A. Carter
200
General Robert E. Lee
222
Fitzhugh Lee. 226
Landon Carter 240
Mrs. Landon Carter
243
Willis Coat-of-Arms
267
Nicholas Coat-of-Arms
310
Wilson Cary Nicholas
318
John Smith Nicholas, Jr.
326
Elizabeth Byrd Nicholas
328
Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte.
336
Charles J. Bonaparte. 340
Berkeley Coat-of-Arnis 374
Brooke Coat-of-Arms. 388
vii
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Barbour Coat-of-Arms.
393
Henry Coat-of-Arms 417
Moncure Coat-of-Arms 426
Aquia Church, Stafford Co., Va. 428
Henry Wood Moncure. 446
Chief Justice John Marshall. 460
Rev. James Blair, A. M., D. D. 492
Christian Coat-of-Arms 531
"Kenmore" 539
Gordon Coat-of-Arms 548
Fitzhugh Coat-of-Arms 551
Chatham-Home of William Fitzhugh 557
McCarty Coat-of-Arms 560
Mason Coat-of-Arms
581
Grymes Coat-of-Arms
596
Chandler-Dinwiddie-Fowke Coat-of-Arms 603
Lewis Arms. 620
Johnston Coat-of-Arms 686
Charles Johnston 691
Moore Coat-of-Arms 701
Steptoe Coat-of-Arms /15
Taliaferro Coat-of-Arms 731
Barton Coat-of-Arms 746
VOLUME II
AUDACES FOR
OSQUE REPELTZ
J
VA
COAT-OF-ARMS OF AMBLERS OF ENGLAND Not quartered with the Jaquelin and Cary Arms
Some Prominent Virginia Families
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE AMBLER FAMILY.
Copied from the records of the family, written by John Jaquelin Ambler, of Glen Ambler, Va., and continued by his nephew, Dr. James D. Moncure :
INTRODUCTION.
As it is agreeable to all persons to be acquainted with the character and fortunes of those individuals from whom they are descended, pro- viding they can look back upon the conduct of their ancestors with feelings of satisfaction and contentment, I have determined to secure this gratifi- cation to my posterity by committing to paper (in a form in which with care they can be preserved to the most remote generations) all those facts and anecdotes relating to the family which have been handed down by tradition from father to son until they have reached me; and which must otherwise in a generation or two to come have been lost forever.
To perform this task I feel impelled by the respect and veneration in which I hold the memory of the late Jaquelin Ambler, Esq., of the City of Richmond, who was my great uncle (after whom it pleased my parents to have me named).
This excellent man commenced a family tree and brought it down to his own times, founded upon information obtained from his intelligent and estimable aunt, Miss Martha Jaquelin, who lived to the advanced age of eighty-one years, and died in the year of our Lord 1792.
It may be well to mention that I have derived all the facts which will be hereinafter mentioned from my much loved and much respected father which do not rest upon the authority of Jaquelin Ambler, Esq., or Miss Martha Jaquelin.
My object is not to attempt fine writing, but to record in a plain, simple and concise manner such facts and anecdotes as are certainly true; for 1 am well aware that they will possess no interest for any other persons than members of my own family (for whom alone they are intended), and even with them their greatest recommendation will be the conviction that they may rely with certainty upon the truth of every thing they will find here recorded.
[A portion of the original manuscript was omitted .- J. D). Moncure.]
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SOME PROMINENT
THE NAME.
The accounts of the first of the Amblers which I have met with mention that thero were some families bearing the name settled in Yorkshire, in England, as respectable and opulent country gentlemen.
JOHN JAQUELIN AMBLER
Of Glen Ambler, Amherst Co., Va .; son of Col. John Ambler, of Jamestown
There is reason to believe that the name of Ambler was originally spelt Ombler, but there are some persons among the ancient writers in the County of York in England who maintain that Ombler is only a corruption of Ambler.
The following is the copy of a letter written to John Jaquelin Ambler. then residing in London, by Edward Ambler, Esq., of Camerton, near Hull,
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VIRGINIA FAMILIES
in Yorkshire, in answer to one containing some inquiries, with respect to the present state and the history of the Ambler family, in that county; which is the same in which his ancestors originally dwelt.
[Inserted here by Dr. James Dunlop Moncure, but transferred from page 5 of appendix in original manuscript.]
CAMERTON, Dec. 6th, 1825.
SIR :- I regret it has been totally out of my power to reply to your polite letter sooner, but must assure you my late apparent neglect was unavoidable.
The similarity of name, I have no doubt, gives us reason to believe ourselves descended from the same family, which idea you will agree with me is corroborated by the exact resemblance of our arms; with the excep- tion of the crest, ours being a lion proper pazs. reg .-
These are what have been transmitted down to us. For the difference of the crests I cannot account, not being a sufficient herald to know whether the crest may be adopted or changed at pleasure.
I am surprised that neither of our names is upon record at the Herald College, since several authors have not thought them beneath their notice. Edmondson, in his "Complete Body of Heraldry," London, 1780, 2 Vols., makes mention of the arms of Ambler, as does Whitaker in his "History of Yorkshire," first number, where you will no doubt find the information you desire. Extracts would be too long for epistolary communication.
We believe our name to have been once Ambler; which again is supposed by some to be a corruption of Ombler, which last name we have borne for five generations.
There is some plate belonging to us marked R. A. which is corrected to O., thus-R. º A.
We have understood our families suffered much in the troubles of James the Second's reign, since which period they have been respectably settled in this part of Yorkshire.
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The last four generations having had only one male heir each, and were it not for my own family this branch would have now been extinct- none to whom we can trace the slightest relationship bearing our name.
Should you again think of visiting Yorkshire, may I beg you will con- sider Camerton as your headquarters, and I can promise you a hearty welcome, though our late domestic affliction in the loss of my poor father renders our continued abode here uncertain.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
EDWARD OMBLER.
There is no difficulty in explaining why there should be a difference in the crest of Mr. Ombler and that now borne by the Ambler family in Virginia, which is the Jaquelin crest, the arms of which family form one of the quarterings in the Ambler coat. As the body of Mr. Ombler's coat
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SOME PROMINENT
exactly resembles that borne by the Virginia Amblers, there can be no doubt but that they are descended from the same family.
That the number of persons bearing the name of Ambler has been very limited in England as well as the United States of America in all ages there is no reason to doubt. On our own Continent I have not met with or heard of a single person out of my father's family who bore the name. And in England during my visit to that country in the year 1825. I was unable to hear of any family of the name of Ambler, any member of which was then living. And it is not once to be found among the many hundreds of thousands of names which fill the London Directory or Court Calendar for that year.
[Dr. Richard Cary Ambler calls attention to the fact that some Amblers settled in New England as shown by the following extract, page 10 of the appendix in John Jaquelin Ambler's manuscript .- James D. Moncurc.]
The following is an extract from a genealogical directory of the first settlers in New England, who came before May, 1692, by James Savage, published in Boston, 1860:
Abraham Stanford Ambler, son of Richard, married (26th of December. 1662) Mary, daughter of Robert Bates. Had daughter Mary, sons Abra- ham, Joshua, and another daughter Sarah, who married John Mehitable. Abraham Stanford Ambler was a freeholder and property holder at "S," A. D. 1686. He was chief. town officer and representative of "S" in 1674."
There is no reason for believing that the Amblers mentioned above are related to the Virginia family, the first of whom came over in 1716 from the City of York in England.
Col. John Ambler, the second of the name, always said after the death of his uncle Jaquelin Ambler, that there was no male of his name in America, except himself. It is probable, however, that Abraham Stanford Ambler came from the same stock in England.
[A foot note, page 23 of J. J. Ambler's MS., mentions that the Philadelphia directory contains several Amblers. In 1860 there was an Ambler who had emigrated from the north and set- tled in Richmond. During the war, from 1861-1865, I saw the name of a William Ambler registered in a hotel at Charlottesville, Va., as a soldier from Mississippi, Barksdale's brigade. In 1867, Mrs. Robert C. Nicholas informed me that she boarded in Balti- more with a guest whose maiden name was Ambler and who came from Boston. The Court Calendar of London, 1880, contains the names of two Doctors Vincent Ambler .- J. D. M.]
*There is nothing to explain anything about "S."
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VIRGINIA FAMILIES
I (Louise Pecquet du Bellet) will give some letters received recently :
AMBLER, S. C., October 29, 1903.
MY DEAR MISS DU BELLET :- If I had written to you as often as I have thought of you, since the receipt of your letter to father during the summer, you would be overstoeked with letters. My grandfather's name was James Ambler, from Virginia. He came down here when quite a young man. Am told he was from the Eastern Shore, which is now the counties Accomac and Northampton.
Grandfather died a few years after my father married, and mother or aunt says he often talked of the Eastern Shore and the James River. He was a very highly educated man, a graduate of William and Mary College, and when he first came to this State he taught in Judge O'Neal's family. I looked over several catalogues of William and Mary College, saw one or two James Amblers, but if I am not mistaken, think the dates were too reeent to have been my grandfather. I will, however, look up the dates I have with those of the Quarterly. My father started a correspond- enee with Col. John Ambler in this way. During the Revolutionary War, one day at the Court House, where slaves were being bought and sold, father, in passing one, who was then for sale, stopped and began to question him as to where he was from, and when he told he was from the Amblers in Virginia, of course father became much interested and got his address. I will send you a copy of the letters, if they have not been destroyed.
Father is now ninety and is very active.
Very sincerely, ANITA AMBLER.
I have written to Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, of William and Mary College, in hopes of learning something about Mr. James Ambler, but have had no reply.
UPPER MARLBORO, MD., Aug. 30, 1904. M'lle Louise Peequet du Bellet,
DEAR MADEMOISELLE :- You will, I hope, pardon my delay in answering your letter when I explain to you that I waited to write to my brother and sister before answering. They were both quite interested and I think both possible subscribers to the book. I am a daughter of the Hon. Jacob A. Ambler, of Salem, Ohio. My grandfather, Henry Ambler, did not come to this country from England until 1828, I think. I am sorry not to be able to give you any information about the South Carolina or the Maryland Amblers. If they came from Yorkshire, they must be of the same family, as there is but one Ambler family there. Some years since I visited my grandfather's old home and while there I traced the name in the great register of the Old Parish Church at Halifax to the year 1554. I am very sorry now that I did not make any record, as I only looked it up for pastime. Should you care to know more of our branch of
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SOME PROMINENT
the Ambler family, I think the most accurate information could be obtained through my brother, Hon. Ralph S. Ambler, of 117 East Lake Street, Canton, Ohio. He and my sister, Mrs. Melvin Cary MeNab, of 210 Arlington Street, Youngstown, Ohio, would, I believe, like to subseribe to the book. My other brother has just returned from the Philippines, where he recently resigned a Judgeship, so I have not had an opportunity of telling him of your project. However, I have little doubt that he will be mueh interested, if our branch of the family is to be represented. His address is for the present 400 Lineoln Ave., Salem, Ohio. His name is Bryon S. Ambler.
Should I be able to be of service to you, in any way, I shall be glad. Perhaps you would like addresses of my cousins; if so, I ean send them. My unele, Hon. Henry Ambler, who is very old and at present very ill, would otherwise be interested, I am sure. Should he recover sufficiently, I shall take pleasure in bringing the matter to his notiee.
Most sincerely yours,
MAUDE AMBLER MOMANUS.
I have had no further information about the above family.
PENNSYLVANIA AMBLERS.
AMBLER, PENNSYLVANIA, October 8, 1904.
Riehard Ambler, a native of Lineolnshire, England, born 1609, eame to the colonies and finally settled in Stamford, Conn., where he died. (Per- haps he was the father of Abraham Stanford Ambler, given above.) His deseendants number three-fourths of all the Amblers in this country.
Richard Ambler, son of John Ambler, the sheriff of York, eame to Virginia about 1716 and founded the Virginia family of Amblers.
Joseph Ambler, born somewhere in Wales, eame to the Colonies and finally settled in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1723. He is the founder of the Pennsylvania Amblers.
John Ambler, of Barbadoes, but a native of England, eame to Wrentham, Mass., about the time of the Revolution. His descendants all live in Eastern Massachusetts.
An English sea-captain, - Ambler, settled in Maryland the early part of last century. This family moved to Ohio, where most of them now live in Belmont County.
The Ambler Coat-of-Arms is given in Burk's Heraldry, and other stand- ard works of this sort.
The name of Ambler was frequently spelled Aumbler and Ombler in England.
The six brothers were all six feet tall, and went by the name of thirty-six feet of Ambler.
I remain, very respectfully,
DAVID J. AMBLER,
Vice-President the First National Bank of Ambler, Ambler, Pennsylvania.
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VIRGINIA FAMILIES
MENDOTA, ILL., Marel 23, 1906.
Miss Peequet du Bellet,
Wytheville, Va.
DEAR MISS PECQUET DU BELLET :- As you no doubt know, there are five Ambler families in this country, not counting those that eame from the Revolution. Of these, only two are known to be connected -the Connectieut and the Virginia families.
Very respectfully,
CARLOS H. AMBLER.
AMBLER, Montgomery Co., Pa.
MY DEAR MISS DU BELLET :- . I searched for any informa- tion that we might have [in regard to the Pennsylvania Amblers], and from the papers that I have so far found I find the following: D. Ambler Leedoni (myself) is grandson of David J. Ambler, whose father was Andrew Ambler, whose father was Edward Ambler, whose father was Jolin Ambler, whose father was Joseph Ambler, who was born somewhere in Wales. The latter came to the Colonies and finally settled in Montgomery County, Pa., in 1723. He is tlie founder of the Pennsylvania Amblers. His brother was Richard Ambler, son of John Ambler, the sheriff of York, who came to Virginia about 1715 and settled.
The following is an extraet from the life of David J. Ambler, my grandfather, published in "The History of Montgomery County" ( Penn- sylvania), in 1884:
"David J. Ambler, of the village of Ambler, in Upper Dublin township, is descended from an ancestor named Joseph Ambler, of Montgomery township, who (as is shown by the Philadelphia County records) purchased a certain traet of ninety aeres of land in that township of William Morgan, May 1, 1723. Among the children of this Joseph Ambler and Am, his wife, were Edward and Jolin Ambler. The ninety-aere traet in Mont- gomery township above mentioned was sold by Joseph Ambler, in 1768, to his son Edward, who, in 1770, devised it by will to his brother John, who was great-grandfather of the present David J. Ambler. In 1794 John Ambler sold the same traet for two hundred pounds to his son Edward, who was by trade a weaver. The present residenee of Mrs. Mary Ambler, in Montgomery township, is the place where Edward Ambler lived, and where he died on the Ist of January, 1838. His wife, Ann Ambler, died October 15tlı, 1827. Their son Andrew, the father of David J. Ambler, was married (May 14, 1829) to Mary Johnson, daughter of Benjamin and Abigail Jolinson, of Richland, Bucks County. The Jolinson family was of German deseent. Andrew Ambler settled in Lower Dublin township, on eighty aeres of land, which he purchased in 1832 of Mary Davies, and on which he built and oeeupied a house which is still standing in Ambler village [a borough now], and owned by Chas. O. Yoeum. He was a fuller by trade, and soon after his settlement he built a fulling-mill on his land, on the site of a small mill of the same kind which had stood there niore than seventy years, having been sold, in 1759, by the executor of Daniel
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SOME PROMINENT
Morris, to Arthur Broades, father of the Mary Davies from whom Andrew Ambler had made the purchase. The Ambler fulling-mill remained in use many years, and was finally destroyed by fire December 31st, 1869. Andrew Ambler died March 7, 1850, at the age of fifty-six years. His widow, Mary J. Ambler, died August 18, 1868, aged sixty-three years. It was for her that the station (and from it the village) of Ambler received its name. During her widowhood (in 1856) a very serious rail- road accident oceurred near Fort Washington by the collision of a school excursion train going north with a loeal passenger train going south. On receiving the intelligence Mrs. Ambler, without a moment's delay, gathered lint, bandages and other necessary materials, and went on foot two miles to the seene of the disaster, where she remained through the day till all the wounded were cared for, rendering sueh conspicuous service to the suffering victims as elicited the warmest gratitude and high commendation from the officers of the railroad company, who, after her death, honored her memory by changing the name of the station from Wissahickon to Ambler. David J., son of Andrew and Mary (Johnson) Ambler, was born Mareh 22, 1837, at his father's place, in what is now Ambler."
The old Ambler mansion, which was oceupied by Joseph Ambler, the first Ambler settler in Pennsylvania, is still standing, about five miles from here.
The name of Ambler was frequently spelled Aumbler and Ombler in England. .
Now, if you think that the above account has any relation to the Virginia family of that name, and if possible, can have it incorporated within the book which you are now preparing, you will do me the greatest favor. I am Very truly,
D. AMBLER LEEDOM.
January 31, 1907.
I shall now return to J. J. Ambler's MS. :
WILLIAM AMBLER. 1548.
The first individual of the family whose name is found in the ancient chronicles of England is William Ambler, a bold and enterprising man who distinguished himself by heading a rebellion in the second year of the reign of his Majesty Edward the Sixth, and in the year of our Lord 1548.
We find the following account in a folio work in the London Institution Library, Moorfields, City of London, entitled, "Eboracum," or the history and antiquities of the City of York, from its original to the present times, together with the history of the Cathedral Church; and the lives of the Archbishops of that Sec, from the first introduction of Christianity, into the northern parts of this island, to the present state and condition of that magnificent fabrick.
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VIRGINIA FAMILIES
Collected from authentic manuscripts, public records, ancient chronicles, and modern historians, and illustrated with copper plates .- In two books, by Francis Drake, of the City of York, Gent. F. R. S. and member of the Society of Antiquarians in London.
Nee manet est fuerat, nec forman servat candem.
God tamen ipsa cadem est. Oved inet. Lib XV.
London, printed by Wm. Bonager for the Author, MDCCXXXVI.
1548 A. D.
In the year of our Lord 1548, and the second of the reign of his Majesty Edward the Sixth, a rebellion commenced at Scamour, near Scarborough, in the County of York; which had as its leader Wm. Ambler, of East Haslerton, who it appears before he appeared before the publick in this capacity was living in obscurity and in quiet as an honest farmer.
The object of the rebellion was to reform the abuses which had crept into religion. The names of Thomas Dale and Stevenson, of Seamour, are mentioned as being engaged in the same affair. They set the beacon on fire at Stanton in the night and gathered together the neighbouring yeomanry to the number of three thousand. Unfortunately for poor Ambler, he had not sufficient authority over the army thus collected to restrain their fury when the sight of their numbers made them feel their power. Such is ever the case, where men with inflamed minds (who have risen to redress what they consider their wrongs) are suddenly embroiled.
"A part of this rabble," says the author, which Drake quotes, "went to Mr. White's house, and took him and Clapton, his wife's brother, one Savage, merchant of York, and Berry, a servant of Sir Walter Mildway, out of their beds and carried them upon the wolds near Seamour, and there murdered them, and left their bodies stark naked for the crows to feed on."
This ill judged and savage conduct blasted the whole design, and involved all parties concerned in the disgrace, including, amongst the number, the daring but unfortunate Ambler, who appears to have been a clever, bold, enterprising, intrepid individual. "The Lord President sent out a detachment against them from York, and a general pardon to all that would immediately submit; most of them disbursed upon this, but Ambler and the above named rebels refused the mercy." But for what cause the old Chronicles do not mention, but in continuation state:
"1549. They were soon taken, brought to York, and executed on the twenty-first day of September, 1549. Along with whom suffered Henry Barton, John Dale, Robert Wright, Wm. Peacock, Witherell and Buttery, all busy stirrers in this sedition."
CHARLES AMBLER.
Charles Ambler was solicitor to Queen Anne and wrote a book of Law Reports. Whether he was ever married or left any descendants, I have never been able to discover.
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SOME PROMINENT
AMBROSE AMBLER.
Ambrose Ambler has a very handsome monument ereeted to his memory in the yard of St. Peter's Church, Leeds, in Yorkshire, England, which the writer visited in the year 1825. Ambrose Ambler died in the year 1704, aged 56 years.
THOMAS AMBLER.
In looking over the Dueatus Liodiensis of Ralph Thousby, by F. R. S., published in England in the year 1715, I find it mentioned that Captain Thomas Ambler made a donation of £30 sterling to the poor of the town and parish of Leeds in Yorkshire, England. The same author records a remarkable instance of longevity in the Ambler family, attending a married pair jointly and in eonsort. He says: "Thus George Issot and Katherine, his wife, parents of Mrs. Ambler of Leeds, were forty years married and never buried one of their family."
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